Homemade Mac & Cheese

The smallest thing tends to inspire me. Wondering what to 'throw together' for our lunch I spotted a box of Catelli Bistro tri-colored vegetable pasta (rainbows) and thought it would be nice to make a homemade mac and cheese out of it. This is something I know my little guy would just 'eat up.'

So I checked out a few different recipes and basically decided to do my own version with a few guidelines. I got my pasta boiling (about a cup and a half) and in a smaller pot I added 2 tablespoons of margarine and a tablespoon of whole wheat flour to create a rue (a thickening agent). Once that was stirred and melted together I added a cup of skim milk, a half cup of cheese whiz, and a cup of shredded cheese along with some onion powder, dried oregano, thyme, and parsley. I found it wasn't thickening up enough to my liking so I added about a 1/2 tablespoon of corn starch which helped a lot. Keep stirring this so that it won't stick to the bottom of your pot and when it's ready just put it to the side and drain your pasta then put the pasta back in the pot and pour over the cheese mixture. From there I put it all in a pie glass baking dish and on the top I sprinkled some more shredded cheese, some Parmesan cheese, and Italian bread crumbs. I put it in the oven at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes. For what seemed to be a lot of trouble to go through just to make some mac and cheese I was happy to have tried it out own my own because I knew exactly what ingredients that were being used. It turned out really well, therefore, worth sharing! Leeland especially loved it and wanted seconds which always makes me happy!